In The Beginning
by WhatATragicComedy
Summary: What do the Ancients have to do with the Goa'uld? What do either of them have to do with a certain well known Earth relic? And how on earth does Daniel know Lara Croft? SJ and possible DL
1. Chapter 1

Time: Set after canon although time line is according to the events of the show. SJ established. Set shortly after Sam's one year stint in Atlantis. Jack is still in Washington, Daniel is now living in Atlantis, Teal'c is still on SG1, and Sam is currently staying off of active duty, acting as head of the science department, as she and Jack-now married-are attempting to get pregnant. (An Asgard transporter is set up between the Pentagon in Washington and the SGC and Jack uses it to come home to Colorado every night.)

Also, thanks to another fanfic that I found highly amusing, I'm doing a crossover with this one. Tomb Raider.

I don't normally put up stories before I've finished writing them, but I wanted to see what everybody's take was on what I've got so far before I continued. The main reason I don't like putting stories up before they are done is that I'm afraid I'll never get around to finishing them. But here's to hoping that I do.

I don't own or am not affiliated in anyway with Stargate or SG-1.

Oh, and you're forewarned, there are a few curse words.

Anyways, on to the story.

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"Theos, have you looked into these documents before?"

"No, it was deemed unimportant at the time it was found as there was a bit of a crisis going on. Haven't had time to go back to it yet."

"Mind if I have a look at them?"

Seeing the intense way that Daniel was looking at the tablets, Theos questioned, "Think you've found something?"

Still eying the Ancient documents, Daniel replied, "I'm not sure."

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Daniel strained his tired eyes on the document. The only light in the dark room was directly above the stone tablets. Daniel reached for his coffee mug and cringed as he swallowed the cold liquid. The tablets were Ancient, but it was a very obscure dialect. Daniel mildly thought, 'When are they not?' and tiredly continued to try and decipher what was in front of him.

A word caught Daniel's eye. Aron or possibly Arun. That could signify a box of some sort. Looking over the context of the word in question, Daniel translated, "The 'box' of promise" Hmm. That wasn't quite right. "The 'box' of agreement or commitment or cahhhh..." Daniel growled in frustration. It was on the tip of his tongue. "Cah, cah, cov...COVENANT!" That's the word he was looking for. "Box of covenant." Hmm. Interesting.

Taking another long sip of his cold brew, Daniel continued ahead into the night.

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"Jack, this is really big."

"Why, exactly?"

Daniel clenched his teeth and mentally counted to five. How could the man not see how this was important?

"The Ark of the Covenant, Jack."

"I know you've always wanted to be Indiana Jones, Daniel, but really. The Ark of the Covenant?"

"I don't want to be...urg. Ja-ack! I don't think Raiders of the Lost Ark had Ancient technology hidden somewhere in the subplot."

"You really think the Ancients had anything to do with any of this?"

"The tablets were pretty clear."

"What about the whole 'we're too high on our pompous glowy asses to interfere with mere mortals' thing?"

"They did say that they had been the cause of the destruction of a world before from interfering. Maybe they used to try and help humans before that happened."

"What's so important about finding this anyway?"

"Other than being quite possibly the biggest archaeological find, it could be that there is alot more to it than what's found in your average Bible. I mean, if it was made by the Ancients like this tablet suggests..."

"Daniel, I doubt it's a big honkin' space gun."

"Probably not. No. But according to the Bible, God communicated with Moses through it and anyone who touched it that was not supposed to, died. So, I'm thinking that its definitely got some kind of power behind it."

Jack narrowed his eyes at Daniel, thinking. Daniel tried not to smirk or bounce on his heels, realizing that Jack was about to cave.

"Where do you think it is again?"

_Yes! Victory! _"Jerusalem."

"Right. Don't you think they would have found it by now if it was there? I mean, center of Christianity and Islam and all that?"

"The tablet gave clues that have led me to believe that it's hidden somewhere in the Well of Souls on the Temple Mount. It's a natural cave in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Some sources believe that the Ark was smuggled from the temple by way of the Well of Souls and taken to Egypt, eventually ending in..."

"Daniel!" Jack shook his head slightly, eyes wide, giving Daniel his best 'I-could-give-a-rat's-ass' look.

"I think that instead they hid it somewhere in the Well."

"Fine. Feel free to go check it out."

Daniel shifted on his feet and looked at Jack with an almost guilty expression.

"What?"

"Actually," Daniel muttered, "Ineedyoutogowithme."

"What did you say?"

Daniel sighed. "I need you to go with me."

"And, why, pray tell, do you need _me_?"

"I have a feeling that the ark's power may need the ancient gene and well, you're you..."

"Daniel, you just came all the way from Atlantis, which last time I checked, has lots of little ancient gene people scurrying about, and you didn't think to bring one of them with you?"

"They are kind of busy."

"And I sit and play with my yo-yo all day."

Daniel glanced at Jack's desk, where a red yo-yo sat in the corner.

Jack followed his gaze and frowned.

"Bad example."

Daniel just continued to stare at him.

Jack sighed. "Look, Daniel, while the idea of trampsing off on your little adventure would be _loads_ of fun, I do, in fact, have a lot of work I have to do here."

"Trampsing? Is that a word?"

"Daniel!"

"Sam already said she'd go."

"What?! What on earth do you need Carter for?"

"Mysterious Ancient powered device of untold possibilities as to it's purpose...Sam came to mind."

"Of course she did." Jack deadpanned. "You know, she would need Hank's and my approval to go. And how is it that I _didn't_ already know about this?"

"I just got in from Atlantis about two hours ago. Talked to Sam. She agreed. Talked to Landry. Beamed here. You should be getting a call shortly."

As if on queue, the phone rang.

"Danny, that's just creepy."

Daniel just smiled while Jack picked up the phone.

Jack frowned as he disconnected the line.

"Well, Landry seems to think it's a good idea."

"So..."

"You were standing right there, Daniel. You heard me."

"And..."

"And I said I'd think about it!"

"Come on, Jack! I figured you'd leap at the chance to get out of this office! You always say you miss going off world but now that you get a chance to do something remotely close to it, you don't want to go!"

"I wouldn't exactly call wandering around a cave looking for a box, the off world adventure I miss."

"Jack!"

"Daniel."

Daniel was beyond frustrated. "Jack, please. This could be really important."

Jack frowned and looked down at the pen he was twiddling with his fingers.

"Fine, but Teal'c's coming too."

Daniel didn't mind that at all but was a little confused by the request. "O-kaaay, I can ask him if he wants to come."

"He goes or none of us go, Daniel."

"Why, exactly?"

"Well, there's the fact that you can't go anywhere without injuring yourself. T can just throw you over his shoulder when you break your leg or something. Big guy, ya know. Then, of course, once you and Carter go into geek mode, I'll be bored out of my skull."

Daniel glared at Jack through his little spiel and then smirked when he realized the real reason Jack wanted Teal'c to come. "Wouldn't feel right without him, would it?"

Jack grinned a little. "No, it wouldn't."

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Sam absentmindedly picked up her phone. "Carter."

"Hey."

Sam smiled. "Hey."

"Watcha doin?"

"Trying to finish writing up my lecture that I'm giving on the two proposed forms of dark energy, the cosmological constant, a _constant_ energy density filling space homogeneously, and scalar fields such as quintessense or moduli, _dynamic_ quantities whose energy density can vary in time and space."

"Ah, I see."

Sam grinned as it was obvious by his voice that he didn't.

"So, I take it you talked to Daniel."

"Yep."

"And..."

"You really think we'll find anything?"

"I don't know. But if Daniel's right, then the possibilities of what the Ark could really do are astronomical. I've been doing some research on all that was Biblically said in reference to the Ark, and it could be some sort of communications device."

"What about the whole, killing people who touched it thing?"

"Maybe it was trying to safeguard against someone breaking the device. Maybe the Ark had another purpose that the people were completely unaware of."

"Like what?"

"We've seen devices before that emitted an EM field that protected entire cities from various outside attacks. It is possible that this device may have the same function. We really won't know until we find it."

There was a pause.

"So...what are you wearing?"

Sam rolled her eyes and smiled despite herself. "Ja-ack!"

"What?" She could practically see his smirk through the phone. "It's a perfectly reasonable question. Last time I saw you, you were delectably naked. And as you aren't currently being malled by all the men at the SGC, all of whom I'd have to kill, I assume that you are wearing some form of attire."

"Delectably naked, huh?"

"It has a nice ring to it, don't ya think?"

Sam deadpanned, "Uhhuh", amusement clearly written on her face.

"So..."

"Sorry, Jack. I've got this thing, called work, that I'm supposed to be doing..."

"Yes, yes. Saving the world and all that. Fine. Spoil my fun."

"Well, I was thinking, it would be a shame if you didn't finish all your paperwork and weren't able to go. I was planning on packing this sweet little tank top I've got for the trip."

"Sam,...do you really think I'll be able to get any work done with that image in my head?"

She giggled. "Think of it as motivation."

"You are an evil woman, Carter."

"You love me anyway."

"I do."

"I love you too. Now get to work. If you're lucky, I might even bring that little black number you like so much."

Sam smiled as she hung up the phone, hearing what sounded like a groan as the phone hit the receiver.


	2. Chapter 2

"There just went 20 hours of my life. I don't care what anyone says, next time we're beaming over."

Jack scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to bring some semblance of life to his drained features. It had been a long two days. And Daniel was way too cheery for a person who had just gotten off the longest plane ride in the history of mankind two hours ago.

"It wasn't _that_ bad, Jack. I slept through most of it."

Sam huffed. "Fine. You sit by him on the way back and then tell me it wasn't _that_ bad."

Jack glared at his wife while she did her best to give an innocent-don't-kill-me-'i-love-you' smile.

"Actually, I don't know if Teal'c was that much better."

If looks could kill, Daniel would have died a thousand deaths. "Of what are you speaking, Daniel Jackson?"

Doing his best Teal'c impression, Daniel began, "Daniel Jackson, what time is remaining before our destination is reached? Or This is a most inefficient means of travel. Could not beaming technology have been used to considerably lessen the trip? Daniel Jackson, may I kill the human sitting to my left?"

"I said no such thing of the man sitting next to me."

"But you thought it."

"He did seem to have, as you would say, a 'death wish'."

Jack found this turn of the conversation most amusing. "What did he do?"

"Despite my numerous attempts to discourage him, 'Ed' wished to ask many questions about myself."

"Then, there was the fact that he spilled his drink all over you."

"Indeed." Though his expression did not truly change much, everyone at their little table saw the slight narrowing of the eyes and clenching of the jaw that showed Teal'c was still quite angry about that. "The bathroom facilities on the aircraft are most inconvenient as well."

"And the seats are never big enough. I was eating my knees the whole trip."

Although Teal'c did not understand O'Neill's comment about 'eating his knees', he firmly agreed with the sentiment of the seats being too small. "I agree with this assessment, O'Neill. Something needs to be done. The experience was a most acute form of torture."

Sam turned to Daniel. "I think I'll sit by you on the way back."

Daniel nodded his head in agreement while Jack yelled "Hey!".

Sensing it was time to break up the complaining twosome before they started back up again, Sam looked at her watch. "I think we should call it a night. We have to leave out pretty early in the morning. Besides, I can think of two cranky boys who sound like they need to go nite-nite."

Daniel almost sputtered his coffee from laughing so hard while Sam took a muttering Jack O'Neill to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

"Wow. Shiny!"

The foursome stood in front of The Dome of the Rock. The building was shaped like a large octagon with the first story being mainly white and the second a bright blue. In the middle, a large gold dome rose above.

"This building is one of the most holy places to Muslims. It took a great amount of convincing for us to be allowed to come here. Large portions are restricted from non-Muslims."

"So, another words, you want me to keep my mouth shut while we're here."

"Yeah. Pretty much."

"Okie dokie. Lead the way, spacemonkey."

Daniel led the group directly to the Foundation Stone which lay above the Well of Souls.

"The Islamic faith believes that it is from this stone that Muhammad ascended to heaven. I suppose with all that we know now, it is a possibility that Muhammad really is an ascended being."

Daniel continued to walk around the stone, the others following behind, to a stone archway inlaid with gold. Through the archway led the steps down into the Well of Souls.

"Well this is cozy."

The cave was, indeed, small. The ceiling was low and the walls were all within a short distance from the entrance. Aside from a few wall supports and the deep red rugs laid across the floor, it didn't look any different from any other cave.

"Daniel Jackson?"

"Yes, Teal'c?"

"Did you not say that it is believed by some that the Ark of the Covenant was taken out through the Well of Souls?"

"Yes, it is thought that the Ark was then taken to Ethiopia where..."

"Ah! Ah! So don't care about the details, Danny."

"I see no other exit than the one through whence we came."

"Yes, well, apparently that wasn't always the case. In folklore, it's said that the Abyss of Chaos lies below the Well of Souls. I'm hoping that we can find the entrance to that and therein find the Ark."

"Well, Daniel, so far I haven't found any energy signatures within the cave."

After finishing her scan, Sam stood by Teal'c in the center of the room.

Jack began to mosey his way over to them when Sam shouted, "Wait! Stop!"

Jack froze, foot in mid air.

"Carter?!"

"I..I don't understand. I've already scanned this area and nothing showed up, but now the energy seems to be increasing."

Daniel peered over her shoulder.

"Jack, move slowly this way."

Jack took a few steps before Daniel told him to stop again.

"It's Jack."

"What?! How am I the energy source?"

"_You're_ not but you are causing it. It's the ancient gene. Just you being here is causing whatever this is to activate."

"Okaay. So is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Are you kidding? This is exactly what I hoped would happen."

Jack wasn't convinced. "Carter?"

"As far as I can tell, we're fine. The energy is increasing but it's not at an alarming level."

"So, another words, we won't blow up or anything if I come over there."

"No. At least, I don't think so."

"How very reassuring."

Cautiously making the last few steps, Jack stood next to the others in the center of the room.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, light began to shine from the ceiling and Ancient symbols became visible. Just as Daniel was beginning to translate, the light began to shine brighter until nothing else could be seen around them.

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Jack blinked. And blinked again. Once more for good measure. Nope. Still couldn't see anything.

"Can anybody else see anything?"

"It appears that there is no light in the vicinity, O'Neill."

"Good. I thought I'd gone blind. What the hell just happened?"

There was a splashing sound and then a small beam of light, followed by Daniel saying, "I don't know."

Ah, a flashlight. Good idea, Danny-boy.

"Carter?"

"Jack?"

"Just making sure you were here."

"Oh, I'm here." Sam groaned in disgust. "What are we standing in?"

"By the smell of it, I'm gonna guess we don't want to know." Whatever it was, they were ankle deep in it. Sludgy water, maybe? Sludge that smelled like 100 year old rotten eggs mixed with charred staff blast wound.

"I think I may have found the way out."

Jack, Sam, and Teal'c splashed there way over to where Daniel's flashlight was beaming.

A metal object was jutting out from the wall, narrow and long.

"Oh no. Buttons are bad. Anytime one of us pushes a button, bad things happen." Knowing their luck, the ceiling would begin to fall at an alarmingly slow rate because the Ancients were funny like that.

"Jack, it looks like the door openers from Atlantis."

Yeah, okay. It _did_ look like one of those, but still, buttons are bad.

Sam groaned again. "That smell is horrible. Jack, if you don't open that door, I think I'm gonna be sick."

That did it. Jack waved his hand in front of the device. A loud rumbling followed.

'Great. If that doesn't sound like a ceiling falling slowly to squish us then I don't know...oh!' Jack's thought was cut off by the sight of a doorway forming and light beginning to filter in to their room.

Sam was the first to make it into the larger space where she did proceed to lose her breakfast. Jack rushed to her side and placed his hand on the small of her back. This was the second time she had gotten sick in as many days. Yesterday, she had said that it was from a bad burger but now Jack was worried that maybe something was wrong with her.

"Uhh...guys?"

There was enough panic in Daniel's voice to cause Jack to look away from Sam. What he found was a gun pointed at him. Make that four guns.

Daniel spoke again. "Hello."

"Where did you come from?"

Daniel pointed to the sludge room. "That way. Dark, little smelly."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Daniel, this is Teal'c, and back there are Jack and Sam. We're archaeologists. Who are you?"

"We have the guns, we ask the questions."

Jack was annoyed at this point. "Yeah, what kind of people carry semi-automatics in a cave anyway?"

One of the armed men in the middle fired off a shot, hitting Jack in his left arm.

Jack let out a yell followed by some muttered cursing.

"The kind that want you to shut the hell up."

Sam applied pressure to his wound with her hand, her eyes full of concern. He just shrugged as if to apologize to her for getting himself shot.

Daniel moved in front of where Jack was standing. "Woah, woah, woah. Just calm down. We can just...talk. About. This. "

As Daniel spoke, a blur of blue flashed through his peripheral vision and knocked over the first two of the armed men. Before the other two could turn towards their attacker, they had both been drop kicked in two easy moves.

"Or not."

The attacker turned towards them, panting heavily with a slight smile on her face. The woman's long dark hair was pulled back in a thick French braid, except for one strand that hung down by her face. She was dressed in a simple blue tank and short tan shorts with two very big guns strapped to her thighs.

"Hello Daniel."

When Daniel registered the English accent, he was instantly taken back to when he was 7 years old in London at the British Museum.

_"You're wrong about that, you know."_

_Daniel looked up from his notebook to see a girl his age peaking over his shoulder._

_"Wennefer is another name for Osiris, not Isis."_

_Daniel narrowed his eyes. "It is not."_

_The little girl shrugged her shoulders. "Fine. Be wrong. You won't get very far that way."_

Just as quickly as the first memory came to him, another flooded into his brain. He was 21 and in Egypt.

_"You'll never learn, will you, Daniel? That is the symbol for rest."_

_Daniel whipped his head around from the wall he had been examining._

_"What on earth are you doing here?" His reply was one of shock, not anger._

_"I'm going to find the Library of Alexandria. And you?"_

_Her reply was so confident, as if she had no doubt that she would be successful._

_"I think I've discovered the real purpose to the pyramids."_

Daniel focused again on the woman in front of him.

"Lara?"


	4. Chapter 4

_Previously on In The Beginning_

_Daniel focused again on the woman in front of him. _

"Lara?" 

**Now on with the story**

"You two know each other?"

Daniel turned to Jack.

"Yes. Jack, Sam, Teal'c, this is Lady Lara Croft."

"Lady? Daniel, how do you know a Lady?"

Daniel barely refrained from rolling his eyes.

"I don't think that's very important right now, Jack." Turning to Lara, he continued, "What are you doing here anyway and who are they?"

Lara smirked, more to herself than outright. Just like Daniel to rattle off questions at rapid speed. He hadn't changed a bit. Well, okay, definitely more of a man than the last time she had seen him. And what a man that was.

The man behind Daniel spoke up again. "And what's with all the guns in the cave?"

His question was followed by a loud "Ow!" as the woman beside him tied her shirt firmly around his wounded arm. Any anger he might have felt toward her was quickly replaced by his obvious enjoyment of the small tank top she was left wearing.

"It's a temple, actually."

Lara's statement seemed to confuse everyone as they looked around the room for the first time. It was a large stone area, approximately four stories in height, with vines and overgrowth creeping its way throughout.

"This is impossible. How could no one have known a structure this big was underneath here?"

Lara looked amusedly at Daniel. "Well, we are in the middle of the desert."

"What?" came simultaneously from three people at once.

One eyebrow rising high in question, Lara stared at the group before her. What were they on about?

"What do you mean the middle of the desert? We're in Jerusalem." Belatedly, he added, "aren't we?"

"I'm afraid you'll want a refund on your flight. You're in the middle of the Sahara Desert."

The gray haired man in the back practically squawked. "As in Africa?"

Lara merely nodded, trying to hide her amusement.

Jack turned accusedly towards her old friend. "Daniel?"

"Don't look at me! You're the one who got us here!"

"Carter?"

"I said we wouldn't blow up, Jack. I had no idea it would take us here."

"Well, isn't this just peachy."

What were they talking about? "It?"

"Uhhh, umm." Daniel plastered a smile on his face. There was no way they could tell her they were just beamed here by Ancient technology. "What are you looking for this time, Lara?"

Subtle, Daniel. If he thought that was going to deter her from finding out how they ended up in Africa when they apparently thought they were in Jerusalem, the man had another thing coming. But she would appease him for now.

"Found actually. The Ark of the Covenant."


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